California’s Wine Industry Begins Picking Up Pieces After Fire Damage
Acres of vines were burned and many key winemaking facilities destroyed in the wildfires that have spread through much of the region this month. But the 2017 vintage was largely already harvested, and vintners are focused on the future.
A fire breaks out in the hills above a vineyard at the Atlas Fire on Oct. 10, 2017 in Napa, California.
Photographer: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images North AmericaAlthough still burning, the largest fires that have devastated California wine country are mostly contained, and winemakers, winery owners, and growers began taking stock this week of what they have—and haven’t—lost.
The numbers are numbing: at least 42 dead, nearly 100,000 evacuated, more than 5,700 homes, businesses, and wineries destroyed or damaged, more than 200,000 acres burned in total, and many vineyards singed and torched, according to an Oct. 17 announcement by CalFire, the state department of forestry and fire protection.